The Eurocopter AS355 (also known as Écureuil 2, and sold as TwinStar in North American markets) is a twin-engine light multipurpose helicopter with a three-bladed lift and two-bladed thruster.
It was originally manufactured by Aérospatiale, which later became part of the Eurocopter Group (and is now Airbus). It's design was derived from the single-engine Eurocopter AS350 (also known as Écureuil, and sold as AStar in North American markets), with Écureuil 2 designed as a more powerful twin-engine version.
The AS355 has appeared in handful of the James Bond movies. Its maybe most notable appearance was in the 1999's The World Is Not Enough as an aerial saw copter utilized by King Industries.
History[]
A View to a Kill (film)[]
An Aérospatiale-era AS355 F2 Ecureuil 2 is featured in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, where it belongs to Max Zorin, taking Stacey Sutton to his chateau.
Licence to Kill (film)[]
An AS350B Ecureuil is used by Sanchez Cartel. Dario arrives to Sanchez' villa with it, showing the Stingers to his boss. Subsequently, Sanchez, Dario and Heller use it fly to the Olympatec Meditation Institute. Heller later tries to steal Stinger missiles from it, but Sanchez catches him in the act and has Braun kill him with a forklift. As its not show to fly away from the place - with Sanchez and co. leaving by Maserati Biturbo 425i - it can be inferred that it was destroyed along with the Olympatec Meditation Institute.
GoldenEye (film)[]
AS355 arriving to Bond and Trevelyan's climactic fight.
- "Alpha-One to Gunship! Alpha-One to Gunship!"
- ― Alec Trevelyan calling in the AS355 to extract him.
Green, camouflage-patterned AS355 helicopters are employed by Janus Syndicate at the Janus Satellite Control Centre in Cuba. First, after Bond and Natalya survive the missile attack on their Cessna 172P Skyhawk and the ensuing crash because of it, Xenia is transported to their location in one. Bond grabs Xenia's AK and fires it at the AS355's pilot -- killing him and causing the copter to plummet, as well as Xenia to be pulled from the rappelling rope and then crushed to death by her harness.
Later, after the Q-branch explosive pen has devastated the main lair and Bond goes to sabotage the antenna's Beam Steering Mechanism, Natalya scouts nearby jungles around the dish and spots a AS355. After Bond and Trevelyan's fight reaches the carriage house/line feed of the array, Trevelyan orders a pilot to takeoff with the AS355. Natalya sneaks in and, after Bond has defeated Trevelyan, makes the pilot rescue Bond before the Beam Steering Mechanism collapses. It was seen flying away after Bond and Natalya disembarking and before Wade and his men revealed their presence, and it can be assumed that it and the pilot had survived and were either taken into custody later or gotten away.
Tomorrow Never Dies (film)[]
After discovering the wreck of the British ship HMS Devonshire in the South China Sea, James Bond and Wai Lin, a Chinese spy on the same case, are captured by the henchmen of media mogul Elliot Carver and are taken by AS355 to the CMGN tower in Saigon, Vietnam.
After escaping the building, the pair grab a BMW R1200C motorbike and are chased through the streets of Saigon by the helicopter. Its pilot eventually attempts to mow down the pair using the aircraft's main rotor, but is outmaneuvered and crashes in flames.
Since no tail numbers are visible, it is not known which individual aircraft was used for the filming.
The World Is Not Enough (film)[]
King Industries' AS355 aerial saw wrecking Zukovsky's Caviar factory.
When James Bond to find Elektra King in Azerbaijan, during his drive there with his BMW Z8, he gets a glimpse of one of King Industries' aerial saw AS355 copters in their proper use. The AS355 helicopters (F1 variant) has a peculiar buzz saw pendant, known as aerial side-trimmers. The devices are essentially a string of rotating buzzsaws affixed to the bottom of a helicopter. In normal operation, the pilot navigates his aircraft into position alongside overgrowth, engages the saws, and slices through the vegetative foliage.
After finding out about Elektra's true colors, Bond and Dr. Christmas Jones go to a caviar factory owned by Valentin Zukovsky, where he wants to ask Zukovsky regarding his dealings with Elektra. After Mister Bullion spots Bond's BMW Z8, he calls for the Elektra, who then sends two aerial saw AS355 copters to kill Bond and his companions.
Whilst interrogating Zukovsky, the copters attack. James Bond fends off an assassination attempts by the aerial saw copters in the hands of King Industry's assassins, the blades cut through wooden platforms and even 007's BMW Z8, whilst gunmen fire from its exposed cockpit. Bond uses a ground-to-air rocket from his Z8 to shoot down the first aircraft and utilizes a gas pipe and Flare Gun to destroy the second.
Spectre (film)[]
A Green AS355 is temporarily visible at the crater lair.
Behind the Scenes[]
Eurocopter AS-355-F1 & BMW Z8 Miniature from the movie "The World Is Not Enough" National Film Museum, London - Bond in Motion Exhibition (2017).
A View to a Kill[]
The helicopter used in the movie was built in 1982 and has a French registration, F-GDMS. It is still active today, but features a very different design that looks completely different than in the movie.
In the movie, the helicopter is white, with a black fuselage. The registration (written in black) is positioned on the tail, today it has been moved to the engine cover, replacing the blue 'Aérospatiale' logo there, which was also visible in the movie.
Licence to Kill[]
The AS350B has registration XA-MUA, c/n 1531 (now XA-JDK).
The World Is Not Enough[]
During The World Is Not Enough, the helicopter assault sequence was achieved using a mixture of computer-generated helicopters and a full size mock-up of the AS355 which was suspended from a crane. For an earlier scene, where 007 encounters one of the aircraft upon arriving in Azerbaijan, a real-life helicopter was utilised and filmed on location.[1]
Interestingly, a sequence featuring a buzzsaw column-equipped helicopter was originally written into an early draft of GoldenEye by Michael France, and had the helicopter attacking Bond and the heroine at a abandoned mountainside workshed, forcing them to escape on skis while chased by it.[2]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Écureuil" is French for the tree squirrel.
- In GoldenEye, the AS355 copters the Janus Syndicate uses in Cuba are by Eurocopter, the company that also produced the Tiger Helicopter that the group steals early on to steal the GoldenEye weapons system.
References[]
- ↑ The World is Not Enough (English). Rotary Action. Retrieved on 2016-08-23.
- ↑ Hamman, Cody (November 5 2012). 50 Years of 007 - The World Is Not Enough (English) (Blog). Life Between Frames. Retrieved on 2016-08-23.